Sell Your Words…

This is the easiest, and sometimes the most lucrative “fast cash” type of information product to sell. And, because this is almost certainly the case, we will be making this type of information product the main focus of this post.

First though, you need to know the basic article format. Here’s a base template of how to compile your article:

Article Title

A Short Introduction – Use this to provide a brief summary of what your reader will be learning from your article. Make it no more than a few paragraphs.

The Main Bulk of the Article – this is where the main content of your article should go. Use paragraphs and be sure that the article follows a logical writing “flow”. Put things in order from start to finish. Use as many paragraphs as it takes. You can also use things like a bulleted list, sub-heading titles, etc. in this area.

A Short Closing Statement – Much like the introduction, this area should consist of only a few paragraphs that provides your reader with a brief summary of what they should have learned, or the main idea behind the article.

[Insert Your Name Here] – This is a generic sample of text letting the reader/buyer of your article know where to stick their name.

[Insert Your Info Here] – Again, this is another generic sample of text for your readers/article buyers to place information about them. This could be their email address, their website, or a short little “blurb” about their skills.

Now, most articles will be distributed as plain text(.txt) files, or as Rich Text Format(.rtf) files. Those types are fine for articles. However, I would suggest that you use Word Document(.doc) as your file format of choice. There are plenty of Word Document tools out there, both free and fee. Plus, it will be easier for your buyers to make changes to the article through the Word .doc format, or convert it into an ebook. And, buyers really prefer receiving the articles in this format in my experience.

All right. After you get your article all ready to roll out, there is still something to think about before you begin selling it.

And that’s this. . . .There is one specific trick to making your article sell.

Since there are so many “free” articles out there, you have to give your potential buyers something “extra” for spending their money on your information. A.K.A. – the article.

How can you do that? Well it’s pretty simple really. Offer them Private Label Rights to the article. “Hmm, sounds interesting”, you might say, “But what exactly are private label rights?”. I’ll tell you. When you offer someone the private label rights to your information, you are allowing them to claim authorship of your product. And, in most cases, also allowing them to make any changes they want to your finished product.

“Whoa!”, you say. “Hold on there. I thought I was suppose to be making money off this deal? How can I possibly do that if I’m basically giving away all my rights to my product??!”

It’s possible all right. And you will make money if you offer your articles in this manner to your prospective customers. Believe me. This little “trick” works like gangbusters. Now, would you want to do this with a full blown ebook in contrast? Probably not. Unless you significantly raised your price for the private label rights. For ebooks though, I recommend you stick with Master Resale Rights.

Master resale rights are specific permissions granted to your customers who purchase your information product to resell the product as it is, and allow those whom they sell your product to receive the same rights. Okay. Now that we have those pesky definitions out of the way, let’s continue!

Using the “private label rights trick” is a sure fire way to get people paying for your article. Private label rights are an extremely hot commodity right now in the information world. Even though the concept isn’t anything new.

The next step is to decide what your private label rights “terms” will be. Will the buyers be able to resell the private label rights to others? Will they be able to sell the article as it is for profits? Will they be able to sell the article to others to sell? Be sure you are very specific about your terms in regards to what your buyers can do with your article(s).

After you have all those terms worked out in a way that satisfies you, then it’s time to talk price.

I have found that for an article that is made up of about 2,000 words or more, and here’s a free online word count tool to check how many words your article is comprised of, a standard price of $5 to $15 per private label rights article is a good value.

If your article consists of good, solid, usable content that is. The higher the word count of the article, the higher you can price it. But I would not suggest you go over a maximum price of $25 for an article. No matter how big it is. The lower your price, the better your chances of getting multiple sales.